


What's in the Boooooox?

by ThroughTheTulips



Series: SPN Season 10 Choose Our Own Adventure Series [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Choose Your Own Adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1843207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThroughTheTulips/pseuds/ThroughTheTulips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Opening the box brings up a whole new set of questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in the Boooooox?

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, I forgot to post this here while the voting link was still active. You can follow the story on my tumblr at interruptingpanda if you want to be sure to catch the polls as they're put up.

**Last post’s dilemma** : Should Cas and Sam open the box?

**Tumblr chose** : 2) Maybe they should wait for Missouri and Bobby to come back before opening it. It’s weird that this showed up while they were gone.  
  
  
            Bobby and Missouri returned an hour later to find them hunched in the doorway, looking suspiciously at the unopened box. Bobby stopped on the porch steps. “Care to tell us what exactly you’re doing?”

            “This package arrived addressed to me,” Castiel said without looking away. “Sam felt it best to wait for you.”

            The older hunter came closer to peer at the label. His face creased in a grin. “Castiel Winchester, huh? Didn’t know you boys had made it official.”

            That startled a laugh out of Sam. He coughed into his fist, trying to cover it. “Uh, Cas thinks Dean wanted to use a name we’d recognize.”

            “Uh-huh. There a reason he didn’t write Novak?”

            “Stop teasing that boy, Bobby, and let me by,” Missouri scolded, pushing past him on the stairs. “I already know how I die and it ain’t anytime soon, so I’ll open the box. You go on inside.” One stern look had him shuffling over to join the pair in the doorway. Missouri knelt and began unwrapping the box carefully. “Lot of magic in here,” she murmured, almost to herself. “Your kind of magic, Castiel.”

            “Heavenly magic?” Cas asked in concern. “You should stop. There are many among the host who feel that Metatron’s work was my fault.”

            “Less than you think, sugar.” She pulled the flaps apart. “Huh. This mean anything to you boys?”

            They leaned forward to look. Inside the box was a flat wooden puzzle frame, the kind toddlers played with that had little pegs on the pieces. It looked like the puzzle had twelve pieces when it was complete. On the facing, where the pieces would normally go, someone had drawn sigils in blue marker. Sam squinted at it. “Those are containment symbols, right?”

            “Sufficient to contain anything below an archangel,” Castiel said in confusion. “That must be why I couldn’t sense anything when Missouri can. Angelic sight specifically can’t detect this.”

            Bobby adjusted his hat, uncomfortable. “You think there’s an angel in this?”

            “I think… it’s meant to contain one, but does not.” Castiel reached out to touch it. His frustration deepened. “It feels like nothing to me.”

            Missouri drew a piece of notebook paper from under the puzzle and held it up. Scrawled across the front were the words GUARD THIS WITH YOUR LIFE. “Does this help?”

            “That’s Dean’s handwriting,” Sam said slowly. “But it… I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before. Somewhere else. Can you tell if Dean wrote it?”

            She closed her eyes for a moment. “Someone very powerful handled this. I haven’t seen Dean since his change, so I can’t tell.”

            “Can you tell if it was an angel or a demon?” Cas asked.

            Missouri sighed and opened her eyes. “That’s all kinds of confusing. I’ll let you know if I figure it out, but for right now all I can tell you is that I don’t think it’s dangerous.”

            “No sense taking any chances.” Bobby went back inside. He came out a few minutes later with a curse box. “Mind if we borrow this? We’ll get it back to you when we figure this out.”

            “Go right ahead.” She stood, brushing off her pants. “You boys want to be heading out soon. Castiel, you give this to your brother when you see him.”

            Her hug seemed to surprise Cas, though he recovered in time to return it awkwardly. “That’s very thoughtful, Miss Moseley, but angels don’t embrace each other.”

            “Those two did when they left here. Seems to me your family could use a few more hugs. Speaking of.” She switched her attention to Sam, giving him a harder squeeze than when they’d met. “You pass that along to Dean, hear? Even if he says he doesn’t want it. Promise me, now.”

            Her words reminded him of his last promise to Kevin, the one he’d ignored. If he’d tried then, if he’d been able to get over Dean’s betrayal and tried to fix things, would his brother still be lost? “I… Missouri, I don’t know-”

            “I’m not asking you to forget every knuckleheaded thing he’s done,” she interrupted. “I’m asking you to give your brother a hug next time you see him.”

            Sam honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged his brother. Suddenly he wanted to, really wanted to even if Dean was a sort of demon now. He nodded, taking his hands back to jam into his pockets. “Yeah. Okay, I promise.”

            “Good boy. Have a nice trip.” Missouri nodded to Bobby and went inside, closing the door.

            Bobby sighed and snapped the curse box shut. “I guess that’s our cue to leave. Sam, your turn to drive. I’m due for a nap.”

 

            Sam had spent most of his life driving. He knew the major roads backwards and forwards, and he’d lived in California for four years. He could find his way to Monterey without even turning on his GPS. There were two main highways he could take to get there. I-70 would take them through Colorado, Utah, and a little bit of Nevada before hitting California. If he chose I-40 they’d cut through the edges of Oklahoma and Texas before crossing Arizona and New Mexico. Both routes are about the same length and merge with each other near the Mojave Dessert.

            He could also stop back by the bunker and restock on supplies. That would add an hour to the trip. It might be nice to have a better variety of gear, but they do have their standard kit with them.

**Which route should Sam take?**

1)     I-70

2)     I-40

3)     Stop by the bunker then take I-70 from there.

 


End file.
